


R3- No powers AU

by thudworm



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [17]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Deaf Steve Rogers, Deaf Tony Stark, M/M, Polyamory, Tony Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 14:13:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20409082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: At first, Tony didn’t realise there even was a problem. He always preferred to have his music loud, so the workshop was designed with surround sound in mind. Even though he tended to tune it out anyway when lost in the depths of an engineering binge.It was only when the need for food and other bodily functions overrode his ability to focus that Tony noticed something was wrong. Initially, it seemed like the problem was with JARVIS’ speakers. He was in the elevator, returning to the penthouse, when he noticed he was hearing much less sound on the right side as JARVIS lectured him about the benefits of a proper sleep cycle, or something.





	R3- No powers AU

**Author's Note:**

> What happens to Tony here is basically pulled from my experiences about 7 years ago, with the main difference being it took me longer to be diagnosed.

At first, Tony didn’t realise there even was a problem. He always preferred to have his music loud, so the workshop was designed with surround sound in mind. Even though he tended to tune it out anyway when lost in the depths of an engineering binge.

It was only when the need for food and other bodily functions overrode his ability to focus that Tony noticed something was wrong. Initially, it seemed like the problem was with JARVIS’ speakers. He was in the elevator, returning to the penthouse, when he noticed he was hearing much less sound on the right side as JARVIS lectured him about the benefits of a proper sleep cycle, or something. 

“JARVIS, run a diagnostic on the speakers in here, something’s not right with the ones on the right, ” Tony instructed. 

“All are functioning within normal parameters, Sir. What seems to be the issue?”

“What do you mean ‘what seems to be the issue’? The right set of speakers aren’t as loud as they should be. Hell, I can barely hear them.” 

It was only as Tony spoke that he started to realise the problem wasn’t just with the speakers- his own voice sounded odd to his ears, as did the heavy sigh. His first thought should have been an ear infection rather than JARVIS having a malfunction, and not noticing it. 

“On second thought JARVIS, cancel that. Contact a doctor for me instead. I think I have an ear infection,” Tony said with another sigh. As a kid he would get frequent ear infections, but thankfully he had managed to outgrow them. Frankly, he couldn’t even remember the last time, so maybe he could be forgiven for not coming to the obvious conclusion first. 

Of course, now that he’s noticed the problem he can’t stop noticing it. The blocked up feeling is irritating as hell, but one small mercy is the lack of pain this time. 

Having a doctor on call for any reason, at any time of the day or night (three in the morning in this case), is one of the benefits of being filthy rich. Not that Tony had realised it was so late (or early, depending on your perspective), until the doctor asked just what the problem was that couldn’t wait until a more civilised hour of the day. 

The examination performed by the doctor was probably the most basic he could get away with, short of doing nothing at all. The look at his ears took barely more than a second before he was given a diagnosis of earwax blockage and prescribed drops to help clear it. 

The next morning was not great. The first thing he did, after JARVIS woke him far too early, was trip over while trying to put on pants, because his stupid ear was messing with his sense of balance. Pepper, who had been in the kitchen starting the coffee machine, heard the crash and came running in to his bedroom.

“Are you drunk?” Pepper demanded. “It’s only eight in the morning, which is bad even for you.”

Tony was too tired for this. The ringing in his ear had made it hard to sleep, and he hadn’t exactly been well rested prior to this anyway.

“JARVIS?”

“Sir began experiencing difficulty with his hearing last night, and was diagnosed with a blockage due to wax. Common side effects, which Sir appears to be suffering from, are vertigo and balance issues.”

“Sorry, Tony. I shouldn’t have assumed.” Pepper was apologetic, but Tony waved it off. 

“It’s fine.”

“Do you need me to reschedule some meetings? Some of them can’t be postponed, but there are a few that can wait until you’re feeling better,” Pepper offered. 

“That would be great, yeah. There is something else you can do to help me, though.”

JARVIS had to direct him to where the bottle had been left, which may or may not have been Tony stalling for time even though he had just asked Pepper to help with the ear drops. 

Under other circumstances Tony might have had a crude comment to make about how he was virtually laying in Pepper’s lap, but the feeling of the drops trickling deep into his ear was too distracting and off putting. It only took a few seconds, but they were deeply uncomfortable seconds. 

Tony stood up slowly, trying to resist the urge to scratch at his ear. “Thanks, Pep. Let’s never do that again.”

“Stop whining. The label says twice a day for four days, so that’s what it’ll have to be.”

The look on Pepper’s face invited no argument, so Tony just mentally resigned himself to constantly feeling like he had swimmers ear for the next few days. 

*

After a week of no improvement he contacted the doctor again, and was just told to continue with the drops. But, when it hit the two week mark, Pepper had insisted he see a specialist, and for once he was inclined to agree without argument. 

She had somehow managed to get Dr Helen Cho, the head of the ENT department, to agree to see him the next day, so he went. 

He spent over an hour sitting there cooperating with the tests, sitting in a soundproofed room pressing the button when he heard the sound, repeating the words he heard through the headphones, even having a tuned fork waved around his head.

Now he was back in Dr Cho’s office, watching as she looked over the test results. Judging by the look on her face, it wasn’t going to be good news.

“Mr Stark, I’m afraid I have bad news for you. The tests show you have moderate hearing loss in the right ear, and it is unlikely to improve beyond its current level. I would like to send you for an MRI to rule out any other possible causes such as a tumour or aneurysm pressing on the nerve; but I believe the cause is a condition known as idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss syndrome.”

That was a lot of words. And the doc was going to have to find an alternative to the MRI, because giant magnet and pacemaker was a bad combination; but before he could say anything, she continued explaining. 

“As the name suggests, this syndrome causes sudden hearing loss for no known reason, and is an issue related to the inner ear or nerves, rather than a problem with how sound is conducted through the ear. The best treatment is a short course of high dose steroids, but given the delay in diagnosis there may not be much, if any, recovery in your level of hearing. Your other doctor should have known sudden onset hearing loss like yours is an emergency, and sent you to see me, or any other specialist, immediately. Especially when there is absolutely no sign of wax in your ears.”

Tony didn’t know how to feel about that, or everything else that he’d been told today, so he just focused on what he could immediately deal with. Anything else would just have to wait until later, when he was alone to think.

“Okay. The MRI is gonna be a problem, though, doc. When they put the pacemaker in I was told very clearly to keep away from strong magnets.”

“Oh, of course. I should have realised. A CT scan is the best alternative, and there’s no need to worry. The odds of there being anything like that occurring are so small that it’s more a better safe than sorry precaution than a real possibility.”

“What happens after that?” Tony asked. 

“Assuming the scan comes back all clear, like I expect, it’s a case of wait and see if the steroids provide any improvement. I’m afraid there isn’t much else that can be done. The hospital runs some support groups for people adjusting to hearing loss. I can refer you if you’re interested.”

Tony nodded silently, and took the pamphlets the doctor handed to him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Only a short chapter because deadlines, but there definitely will be more. Next chapter will see Tony having some feelings about all this, and meeting Steve and Clint for the first time.


End file.
